Sunday, March 28, 2010

We braved wind and ceaseless rain crossing continent after continent with 4 adults, 4 children, 1 drenched stroller, 1 heavy camera bag, and 1 all important garment bag containing princess dress, shoes and crown. Finally, our persistence paid off and we arrived in Norway at Akershus. The soaking princess was whisked away to the royal bathroom where the Queen Mum transformed her into a beautiful princess. She even managed to work some amazing magic to get one little boy to dress like Peter Pan while the other little prince turned down his opportunity to dress as a prince. Shortly thereafter they were summoned into the royal presence and greeted by Princess Belle herself:

We partook of some good food and were periodically visited by various princesses much to the delight of the beautiful princess:

She was even greeted by her favorite princess, Ariel. The Queen Mum reminisced about the last time they dined there when the so big princess was 2 and called Ariel, "Princess Nemo". It was so cute.

The happy princess finally met the princess she was dressed as, although she was representing the dress made by the mice and birds the wicked stepmother tore up: Needless to say, Peter Pan was less than impressed by all these princesses:And then, Snow White entered the room. From the minute she entered the room he couldn't take his eyes off of her. He didn't give the other princesses a second look, but he watched her as she circulated the room. He was fascinated. And then she approached our table. Look at the delight on this sweet boy's face:

Wesley wasn't quite as impressed and went on with his eating:

Snow White happily visited with the pink princess:

Then the Queen Mum suggested the King allow Peter Pan to visit with her. They quickly told her of his infatuation, but she could see it for herself:

Though Peter was too overwhelmed to make much eye contact the smile never left his sweet face:

I really don't know if these pictures can do justice to convey the giddiness on this child's face. A child who a few minutes earlier was pitching a fit and embarrassing his royal parents. That quickly turned to nonstop smiles when she came along:

The lady herself was quite enchanted as well and bestowed a kiss upon his cheek. His beautiful smile never left but turned a little lopsided and thrilled:

Umm, yeah here he's bragging:

Then as the royal family laughed he became embarrassed:

Embarrassed, yes but still very happy (this picture is one of the reasons this was my favorite Disney moment!):

Big brother could relate as he was in this exact same position 4 years ago at this same restaurant as he was dressed as Prince Philip and covered in kisses (Mommy's favorite moment of that trip!). Here they are saying they are disgusted, but both continually grinned!

This was the most magical of magical moments. My princess was happy and my Will had his first crush, and I had perfect pictures to show it- priceless!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Day 3 dawned with us hitting Epcot. Stitch was on hand to greet us: Will and Wesley were sporting their Nemo shirts and excited for the Nemo ride. They are CRAZY for Nemo (its how their daddy babysits them :) We rode through the ocean in a giant clam. These little "pearls" were in the clam next to us.

Then we met Bruce, and we were hoping he believes kids are friends not food!

Bruce freaked Wesley out and mostly kept him from playing in the kids area, but not the other 3.

Of course, Jon was a little freaked out too!

We also went to check out Imaginations and conducted a symphony as well as found lights we could jump on to make noises. Will was a big fan of both.

Then the bottom fell out and we were s-o-a-k-e-d. Thank goodness our kids have a Nana and Pop because their cheapskate parents wouldn't spring for rain gear! Nana and Pop hooked them up with some official Mickey ponchos and umbrella. Thank goodness, because it continued to rain.

It obviously didn't dampen this monkey's spirits. He and Wesley's favorite ride was one we almost didn't take them on. It was the little boat ride in Mexico. It's not the fanciest ride, but they loved it because you had to look for Donald Duck. Wesley, the little tour guide, especially was having a great time yelling, "Dere'sDoald Duck, Mommy wookDoald Duck!"

Night was beautiful despite the rain.

The boys found a model train in Germany and were in little boy heaven. They would still be there today if we hadn't forced them to leave.

This drown rat magically transformed into a princess (thanks to the dress and accessories Nana and Mommy lugged all the way to Norway) in time for her princess dinner- more on that wonderful night later. Then she turned back into a pumpkin, albeit a poncho covered one.

Then we braved exhaustion and rain and walked literally around the world to see the firework show. It was amazing although we teased Pop for thinking this was the big Epcot ball in a blond moment :)

This is what we all wanted to do, but no one would carry us in so we had to walk it.

Another day spent battling the weather, but still fun. Today had my favorite moment from the entire trip, coming soon.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Everyone woke up to a welcome letter from their favorite characters the 2nd day.

This day I made all the kids Mickey ear shirts with their favorite characters:

This stinkin' cute boy did some modeling of his new shirt. How cute is he with that hand in his pocket:

Too much cuteness, my own little Chip and Dale:

We had an early morning because we had breakfast scheduled with a duck in Africa at 8:30.

The duck was very welcoming!All the kids chowed down on the great breakfast:

Then we got to meet the main mouse himself:

He was so glad Nana and Pop finally came to see him!

Of course, he and I go way back, but I was so excited to see him again!

Ashton was excited to see Daisy of course!

Everyone was waiting for this family favorite to show up:

It was great to have a family reunion happen over breakfast :)

After filling our bellies and participating in a conga line (the kids did anyway), we headed out into the cold weather to go on safari where we realized Wesley has a great future as a tour guide: "Woook, elphant. Mommy ephant. Wook Pop, ephant. Nana see ephant?"

Then we went on to bravely conquer Mount Everest. I have to say how impressed I was with Nana and Pop's bravery! The kids and I didn't tell them that the ride stops then you suddenly start going backwards. I turned around when it happened and Pop's look of surprise was priceless!

Here they are proudly showing off the mountain they conquered!

The Tree of Life is one of the most amazing things you'll ever see. We couldn't keep up with all the animals we saw engraved in it. We loved it:

We jumped at the chance to have a group photo:Jon's shoulders got quite a workout this week!

To go inside the tree you have to become a bug:

Some of us were better at it than others:

I wanted the kids to get into pin trading this trip because I thought it's be fun and a neat way to talk to new people. For those of you who don't know, you can trade pins with different characters with any cast member. So I got on Eb*y and ordered cheap ones so they'd have lots to trade. This was their first trade and the picked the nicest older men to trade with who talked and joked around with them. Ashton decided to collect pins with all the characters. Jackson decided to collect pins with hidden Mickeys on them. It ws fun all week.

While we were waiting for the parade to begin, we saw a kangaroo behind us. Here's the little tour guide pointing it out to everyone. It is so cute to hear him say kang=wuuu.

During the parade we got to meet the stars of our shirts in person- another adorable duo like my two, Chip and Dale:

We also got to meet my favorite:

After seeing the world at Animal Kingdom I forced the group to hit a 2nd park! I wanted to see Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios because I'd never seen it before. This was the only night it was showing, so despite the fatigue we persevered. I was so glad we did because it was an amazing combination of characters, fireworks, light show and amazing special effects.

This was cool because it was SteamBoat Willy- Mickey's first cartoon. We got to watch it 50 times because it played over and over in our hotel room. You should really watch ot sometime. It is so funny how politically incorrect it is now.

As with everything in Disney, it had a BIG finish!

What do you do after a long, exhausting day> You carry your Pluto in and go to bed!